This letter was sent out recently to troop leaders and other volunteers, but contains information that may be of interest to all:

Dear Friends,

Like many of you, I’m a troop leader (Brownie Troop 104, VISTA 16). I’m also a lifelong Girl Scout, mother of three daughters, and former camper, staff member, and camp director at Camp Arrowhead. Recently, I also became a member of the Camp Arrowhead Task Force.

As you may know, the council’s Board of Directors had voted in August to sell Camp Arrowhead. The camp has since been withdrawn from the scheduled auction in November, but the Board has asked Camp Arrowhead supporters to complete two tasks before its February meeting: raise funds to cover the basic operating costs of Camp Arrowhead through May of 2008, and come up with a viable business plan for the continued operation of this camp.

The task force has begun meeting to accomplish these tasks. Task force members include board members and volunteers. I am one of those task force members. Others include both former camp staff members and current volunteers, as well as board members and CEO Cynthia Hamilton. In addition, several committees have been formed to complete these tasks, and additional volunteers and council staff members are working on these committees.

We are committed to making Camp Arrowhead work. While the board still has not taken Arrowhead completely off the market (the property is not part of the November auction, but could still be sold in a spring auction), our goal is to have the business plan ready to go and $80,000 to $120,000 in funds raised by February 7, 2008. The board will then meet on February 21 to make a decision on keeping Arrowhead.

Yes, that is a huge goal, with little more than two months to our deadline! So yes, we do need more volunteers, especially for fundraising. One way to volunteer is to help with the Family Giving Phone-a-thon on December 6, 2007. This phone-a-thon was already scheduled for the purpose of raising money for the Opportunity Fund, which pays for membership dues, uniforms, and some program fees for girls who could not otherwise afford to be in Girl Scouting. This year, if the phone-a-thon meets its $15,000 goal for the Opportunity Fund, all further donations will go to Camp Arrowhead. We’d like to get as many volunteers on the phones as possible to make that happen!

You can also make your own donation to Camp Arrowhead (and the Family Giving campaign). Please mail your check to Girl Scouts – Columbia River Council at 9620 SW Barbur Blvd, Portland, OR 97219. You can designate your gift to Camp Arrowhead, Opportunity Fund, or any other area you wish. At this time, your gift is most helpful if it is not restricted to “if Camp Arrowhead is not sold” or to any particular time frame, as we will be unable to use funds restricted in this way for immediate camp needs and operating costs.

Finally, you can help by asking your friends and family to give to Camp Arrowhead as well. They can send donations in the same way. People can also give a gift in your honor toward Camp Arrowhead! This is a great item for your Christmas list.

Donation forms and envelopes will be available in the near future, but in the meantime, please do not hesitate to donate or to ask for donations.

We will keep you updated on the progress of the Camp Arrowhead Task Force. Meeting minutes and contact information will be posted on the council website. If you wish to receive email updates as well, you can subscribe to the announcement list by sending a blank email to arrowhead_updates-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

Welcome to the Camp Arrowhead Task Force blog! The task force will be posting regular updates here about the process of writing a business plan and fundraising to keep Camp Arrowhead for the Girl Scouts of Columbia River Council. You may see reports from task force and committee meetings here, as well as other news.

How You Can Help

Currently, the work of the Task Force has been divided up into various committees. Anyone who would like to help with any of these committees (especially if you have special skills or experience in these areas) can contact us at gsarrowhead@yahoo.com.

Short-term goals: Information dispersal between task group members and committees; communicating with membership, volunteers, parents / guardians and other interested supporters; developing clear and consistent messages.

Fundraising:

Short-term goals: Fundraising training; coordinate with existing council fundraising; short-term revenue generation for operating costs / auction costs; contact and connect with alumnae and lifetime members who are not currently involved in Girl Scouting.